ISME-Gibson Community Music Education Awards

Up to two awards with a total allocation of US$45,000 will be presented to successful non-profit organizations that provide evidence that they are able to devise an innovative project that targets young people who, through their life circumstances, would greatly benefit from the joy and creativity that can come from a specially designed participatory music program.

Examples of suitable community-based music education projects might include work with young people:

• whose economic background leaves them excluded or marginalized;
• who live in divided communities or in areas of tension or conflict;
• who have emotional, physical or cognitive disabilities;
• which seek to help recovering youngsters from street life that led them to be on the margins and therefore unlikely to access mainstream music education;
• that set in place innovative networks or collaborations that ensure greater access to music education; or
• that provide opportunities to train for a future career in music or the music industry.

The 2009 ISME-Gibson Community Music Education Awards for worthy projects to be undertaken in Asian Pacific Region countries will be announced at the joint ISME Regional Conference and Asia-Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research (Shanghai, China, June 24-28, 2009). They should commence no later than December (2009) so that they can be showcased at the 29th ISME World Conference to be held in Beijing, China (August 2-6, 2010). At least one representative of the successful organizations will need to attend the ISME World Conference in Beijing in order to participate in presentations that highlight the work being undertaken for the project.

In addition to funding, projects may be eligible to receive a donation of musical instruments from the Gibson Foundation and, if appropriate, mentoring through the ISME Community Music Commission. The award is open to community musicians and organizations with an appropriate legal and financial structure to successfully manage their proposed project. 

All applicants are required to have current ISME membership either through the main proponent (who would need to be an Individual Member of ISME) or as Group Membership of ISME. Individuals or Groups who are not ISME members, may join at the time of submitting their application (membership details are available at: www.isme.org)

To apply for an award, provide details as follows:

1. Name of the Organization

2. Full titles and contact details for the office bearers within the organization (indicate whether an individual or the organization is a member of ISME)

3. Title of Project

4. Background information on the organization

•·           Administration and structure of the organization 

•·           Mission of the organization

5. Description of the project

•·        General aims of the project

•·        Main activities

•·        Target group (who would be involved)

•·        Location of the project 

•·        Connections or affiliations (if any) with other organizations

•·        Main funding source

•·        What do you hope to achieve as a result of the funding that would otherwise not be possible?

•·        What are the long-term benefits of your project?

6. Project management

Please describe:

• how the project will be managed
• is the community involved on the management of the project
• who will be working on it, and
• how the budget will be administered.

7. Evaluation

In this section we would like you to tell us about your evaluation mechanisms, for instance:

•·           How will you know whether the project has met its aims and objectives?

•·           What methods of documentation will you use?

8. Budget and proposed timetable

Submit a detailed budget for your project.  Itemize expenditure using table with columns that:

•·           describe each item of expenditure, and

•·           provide approximate cost.

9. Schedule

Projects should last a minimum of 12 months, and may extend for a longer period. Provide a projected timeline for the activities of the project.

Application Submissions

The deadline for proposals is Thursday, April 30, 2009.  Applications should be no more than 10 pages

Further Information and Feedback on Applications

If you have any questions or would like feedback on a draft application, feel free to contact either:
Don Coffman, Chair, ISME Community Music Commission,

email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

OR

Gary McPherson, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Email your application as an email attachment using Word format to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Attention: Judy Thonell - ISME Secretary General

The ISME and Gibson reserves the right not to make an award, or to solicit additional nominations if the selection committee feel that the pool of nominations needs to be expanded.